How to lock and unlock your Nest thermostat

You can lock your Nest thermostat from the Settings menu on the thermostat, or with the Nest app. Locking your Nest thermostat is a good way to keep guests or curious children from changing your thermostat’s settings while still letting you and your family adjust your home’s temperature within the range you’ve set.

Locking your Nest thermostat works a bit differently depending on whether you set the lock on your thermostat or with the Nest app. Your Nest thermostat needs to be added to your account in the Nest app in order to lock it.

      How to add the Nest thermostat to the Nest app>

When you’ve locked your Nest thermostat, the only thing that someone else can do from the thermostat is turn the ring to change the temperature, within the allowed range that you’ve set. Unless someone has the four-digit code (PIN) that you created when locking your Nest thermostat, they won’t be able to unlock the thermostat or change any of the thermostat’s settings. Also, anyone you’ve invited to share access to your Nest home will still be able to change any settings or unlock your thermostat with the Nest app.

Important: If you can’t unlock your Nest thermostat or your Heat Link has become disconnected, you can always turn your heating on by pressing the Nest button on your Heat Link to put your system in manual heating mode.

      How to turn the heating on if the Nest thermostat isn’t working >

How it works

When your thermostat is locked, anyone can turn the thermostat’s ring to change the temperature within the range you’ve set.

The range you can select depends on whether you set the lock on your thermostat or with the Nest app. When you lock your Nest thermostat with the Nest app, the smallest temperature range is 2.5ºC (for example, 20-22.5ºC). There is no minimum temperature range if you use the Nest thermostat to set the lock. If you want to set a smaller range, or lock the thermostat to a single temperature, you will need to set the lock on your thermostat.

Important: Even when the Nest thermostat is locked, it will still heat to any temperatures in your schedule, even if they are outside of the locked temperature range. It will also respect your normal Eco Temperature.

      Learn more about Eco Temperature > 

How to lock your Nest thermostat

On your thermostat 

Follow these steps to lock your Nest thermostat: 1. Press your thermostat’s ring to open the Quick View  menu. 2. Choose Settings  and then Lock. 3. Press the ring again to confirm that you want to lock your thermostat. 4. Enter a PIN that’s easy to remember, and enter it again to confirm. 5. Turn the ring to set the minimum and maximum temperatures. 6. Press the thermostat ring to choose Done and lock your thermostat, or select Change if you need to make any changes to your lock settings. 7. Your Nest thermostat will be locked. The Lock icon at the bottom of the screen shows that the thermostat is locked.

With the Nest app 

Anyone who has access to your Nest home can use the Nest app to lock your Nest
thermostat. Here's how you do it:

1. Open the Nest app and tap the Nest thermostat you’d like to lock. 2. Tap the Settings  icon in the top right-hand corner. 3. Scroll to the bottom of the menu and tap Lock. 4. Enter a PIN that you can easily remember, and enter it again to confirm. 5. Drag the slider to set the minimum and maximum allowed temperatures while locked. Tap the Lock button at the bottom of the screen when you’ve finished. 6. You can confirm that your thermostat is locked by tapping the Settings  icon. You should now see Unlock as an option instead of Lock.

 How to unlock your Nest thermostat

On your thermostat 

 

Follow these steps to unlock your Nest thermostat using its ring. You’ll need the PIN that was set when the thermostat was locked. If you don’t have the PIN, you can still use the Nest app to unlock the thermostat. 1. Press the thermostat’s ring to wake up your thermostat. The Lock icon at the bottom of the screen shows that the thermostat is locked. 2. Press the thermostat’s ring again. 3. Enter the PIN to unlock your thermostat. Turn the ring to change the number, and press the ring to enter it. 4. If the PIN is correct, the Lock icon will disappear. Your thermostat is now unlocked.

With the Nest app 

 

Anyone who has access to your Nest home can use the app to unlock your Nest thermostat. You won’t need the PIN.

Note: To unlock your Nest thermostat with the Nest app, it must be online. If your Nest thermostat is locked and offline, and you don’t have the PIN, please contact us for help.

Follow these steps to unlock your Nest thermostat with the Nest app:

1. Tap the Nest thermostat you’d like to unlock. 2. Tap the Settings  icon in the top right-hand corner. 3. Scroll to the bottom of the menu and tap Unlock.

 

 How to change the PIN

With the Nest app 

To change your thermostat’s PIN, you’ll need to use the Nest app on your phone or tablet.

1. Open the Nest app.
2. Select the Nest thermostat that has the PIN you want to change.
3. Select Settings   Unlock.
4. Once your Nest thermostat has been unlocked, you can select Lock in the Nest thermostat settings to lock it again and set a new PIN.